


Revenge

by PerkyPastry



Category: 9 (2009)
Genre: Comedy, Everyone Is Alive, Gen, Post-Movie AU, revive fic?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 10:16:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13522146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyPastry/pseuds/PerkyPastry
Summary: It was times like these when 8 admired his own self control.Originally written for the 9 Weeks Art Challenge (2011).





	Revenge

**Author's Note:**

> This was written to work as a standalone chapter, but I've still got the material to write one or two more to wrap it up, if I find the time. Hope you like it!

It was times like these when 8 admired his own self control.

It was a quiet day. No singing crickets. No chirping birds. No rushing water. Just complete and utter silence. And if you were a human, and not a ragdoll, it might be a very enjoyable morning.

You see, with all the beasts finally gone, and their purpose basically fulfilled, the now sole inhabitants of the world had to indulge themselves in other ways. A while ago the twins had pulled up several books on human activities which they could expand on to entertain the group. They did checkers, capture the flag, and they had even incorporated their own ragdoll Olympics. But there were only so many books to read on recreation, and as time went on, the clock tower went back to being a quiet place for everyone. Especially for the largest member of the group.

The bodyguard grudgingly stomped into his room.

According to 9 and 5 who had just got back from their morning scouting trip, there was quite a big clump of nasty rain clouds coming their way. Which, again, for a human might be exciting, but for an 8 inch doll that could get blown away in the wind, it was quite the downer, due to the fact that most of their recreation was done outside the confines of their “sanctuary”.

8 looked around to the opening of his room to check if anyone could hear close by.

1 was asleep at his throne, 6 was surprisingly away from his corner, and everyone else was downstairs. Good, he thought. There was one thing he could still do while being trapped in the building for the day.

He walked over to his bed of rags, and took off a draped piece of cloth to reveal his trusty sling, which he kept his magnet attached. Only instead of the red and grey magnet, there was a scrap of paper skewered on the end of the kitchen knife he used as a(now out of commission) weapon.

He grabbed the paper curiously, and smoothed it out in his hands, trying not to smear the black and very wet ink. It was what appeared to be a note. It was scrawled with a few words, followed by a dripping sketch of the talisman at the bottom. 8 recognized that this was a message of some sort, but, unfortunately, he couldn’t make it out.

You see, he was designed as the group’s guard. Reading wasn’t exactly an ability he could use while keeping watch or battling enemies. Although he had tried to acquire the skill after they had been brought back. But due to a certain addiction, anything he learned was wiped out of his memory by the end of each day.

So he couldn’t read the note. Which meant he would have to find someone else who could. The question was: Who?

5 was afraid of him, 1 would yell at him for waking him up, and he wouldn’t be able to get anything out of 3 and 4. As he thought about it, the next person that came to mind was going to be his best bet.

 

~~~

 

2 wore a puzzled look on his face as he stared up at the towering one before him in confusion, and then down to the scrap of paper in his own hands.

Then back to 8, then at the paper, and back at 8 again.

The elder was confused. He could figure from the guard’s intent staring that he was expecting 2 to read it out loud to him.

Not that 2 wasn’t capable. The ability to read was one of his skills he was given from the scientist. What confused him was that not just a minute ago he was working on some tedious blueprints when 8 barged in to the workshop and shoved the paper into his hands without so much as a “hello”.

And if that hadn’t been surprising enough, the contents of the note, and who it appeared to be signed by were even more unusual. He was questioning whether it would even make sense to 8 when he told him.

2 took this time to scan over 8’s features, trying to detect if there was any sign of him grasping the situation, but as always his face remained an unbreakable fortress of mystery. In fact, upon further inspection, he didn’t even appear to be blinking, which unnerved the inventor just enough to finally break the awkward silence in the room.

“Ah…It says ‘To find your magnet, follow the arrows’.” 2 stated hesitantly.

2 watched 8 as he stared blankly for a few seconds, as if processing this information. Then, without a word, he stepped out of the workshop as quickly as he had entered, leaving 2 with the now dripping note.

2 looked at the note once more, and then watched 8's shadow disappear before cracking an amused smile. Whether good or bad, this day was going to be interesting for at least one member of their clan.

 

~~~

 

8 stepped into the main elevator and rotated the crank. A clank sounded as the bucket lifted off of the ground and ascended up into the next floor.

He knew what that drawing meant. That was 6's ‘signature’, so to speak. 8 had one of his own, which he etched onto every beast he defeated. The artist wanted a little revenge. He could understand that.

The elevator stopped and 8 stepped out. As he walked down the hall to his room, he stepped on something. He looked down. It was another scrap of paper. He lifted his foot to reveal an arrow etched onto its surface. 8 followed the direction it was facing towards the throne room.

He knew that sooner or later one of the others he had bullied over the years was going to seek some kind of retribution. It was common sense. It just surprised him a little that the smallest, weakest, and most soft-spoken would be the first to do so.

8 looked at the ground as he made sure to go in a straight line, until he couldn’t walk any further. He was now in front of the first step of 1’s pedestal. 8 lifted his head to see 1 sleeping soundly as ever, a soft snoring emanating from deep within. 1 always was the heaviest of sleepers. If he wasn’t he might have noticed when a certain doll slipped a scrap of paper between the fingers of his free hand. It pointed to the left.

Actually, it wasn’t all that shocking. 8 had been cruel to everyone -save 1-, but he had focused more energy on 6 than all the others combined. It wasn’t that he hated him more. 6 was practically asking for it by shoving his drawings in their faces and spewing nonsense every single day.

8 stopped when he reached the building’s second elevator, which only had one destination. Another arrow was stuck on the door of the bucket, pointing straight up.

To be honest, he was rather glad it was 6. Although crazy, the striped one was completely harmless. And since he was carrying this out over private terms, 8 had no reason to fear for his reputation. This was specifically about the two of them. And if 8 came down on 6, he would just be attracting unwanted attention.

He fastened the latch on the ropes so the bucket wouldn’t succumb to gravity and leave him stranded in the highest point of the building they called the Watchtower. As he scanned the room, he spotted the final note, pointing upright against the base of the telescope.

It was a simple enough task anyway. He would just sneak out, grab his magnet from wherever 6 had dragged it, and sneak back in before anyone even noticed. 6 would get the satisfaction of his little plan being carried out, and 8 would get his most prized possession back. It was a win-win situation for both of them. Besides, 8 had never seen 6 lift anything other than ink jars. It’s not like he could have carried it very far. 8 would be back in no time.

8 felt proud of himself after coming to this conclusion. He had changed since 9 had come along; Since they were all united again. He was more controlled. Wiser, even. Yes, he thought, the important thing in this situation is to remain calm.

With his face up to the lens, 8 scanned the grounds of the emptiness for any signs of his magnet. To his dismay, he couldn’t find a thing on a hundred feet radius surrounding the cathedral. He scoped over the next hundred yards.

Nothing.

Surely it couldn’t be further away? He zoomed out to search a wider range even further out. 

Still nothing.

8 was beginning to get frantic at this point. He zoomed it out as far as he possibly could and searched carelessly, aiming the telescope every which way until he spotted a small glimmer of light and a speck of red off in the distance.

He zoomed in this time, revealing a building he knew all too well.

It was the library they had taken refuge in half way across town. The place where he had been captured by the seamstress. He could recognize those ominous shapes of its statues anywhere.

 _”Wait a minute…”_ 8 squinted at the front one on the left hand side.

_“It couldn’t be…”_

He zoomed in again.

Yep. Those definitely were the statues that guarded the entrance.

The stitchpunks were all quite awestruck when they were first introduced to the man-made objects. They held a certain mysterious beauty like the dolls had never seen, and yet at the same time the familiar cold lifelessness that their entire world carried. 8 sympathized with them in a way, as he felt like they were both carrying out the same duty. But there was something else about the statue that caught 8’s attention this time.

_“No. It’s just not possible…”_

This time it was the hand of the statue. It was positioned outward, and there appeared to be something hanging on the end of it.

_”No. No. No, no, no, nononononono-“_

He zoomed in all the way.

There, tied to a strand of rope, suspended in mid-air by one of 5’s hand made grappling hooks, was 8’s magnet. And fluttering in the wind along with it a few inches down, was a large scrap of paper containing a sketch of the talisman.

 

**“6!!!!!”**

 


End file.
